The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-03-17

The first intimation given Of tho eccentricity
of the tcstator was, think, in the spring of
1854. lie was at that time in possession Of a
considerable property, heavily mortgaged to
one friend, and wife of some attraction, on
whose affections another friend held an in
cumbering lien. One day it was found that
he had secretly dug, or caused to We dug,
deep trap before the front door Of his dwell
ing, into which few friends, in the course
OF the evening, casually and Familiarity
dropped. This circumstance, slight in itself,
seemed to point to the existence of certain
humor in the man, which might eventually
get into literature, although his w:fe's lover
a man of quick discernment, whose leg was
broken by the fall-took other views. 1t was
some weeks later that. while dining with GER
tain other friends Of bis wife, he excused him.
self from tho table to quietly reappear at the
front window with three-quarter inch by
draulic pipe, and a stream of water projected
at the assembled company. An attempt was
made to take public cognizance of this; but
majority of the citizens Of Red Dog, who
were not ut dinner, decided that man had
right to choose his own methods of diverting
his company. Nevertheless, there were some
hints OF bis insanity; his wife recalled other
acts clearly attributable to dementia; the
crippled lover argued from his own experience
that the integrity Of her limbs could only be
secured by leaving Der husbands house; and
tho mortgage. fearing further damage to
his property, foreclosed. But here the cause
of all this anxiety took matters into his own
bands and disappeared.
when we next heard from bin he had, in
SOME mysterious way. been relieved alike st
his wife and property, and was living alone at
Rockville, fifty miles away. and editing
newspaper But that originally he had dis
played when dealing with the problems Of his
own private life, when applied to politics in
the columns Of Tho Rockville Vanguard was
singularly unsuccessful. An amusing exag-
geration, purporting to be an exact accouat
Of the manner in which the opposing candi-
date had murdered bis Chinese laundrymaR,
was, regret to say, answered only by as
.ault and battery. a gratuitous and purely
imaginative description Of a great religious
revival in Calaveras, in which the sheriff of
the connty--a notoriously profane skertic-
was alleged to have been the chief exLorter,
resulted only In the withdrawal of the county
advertising from the paper. In the midst Of
this practical confusion he. suddenly died.
It was then discovered, Us a GROWING proof
of bis absrrdity, that he had left q will be-
queathing his entire effects to freckle faced
maid servant at the Rockville hotel. But
that absurdity became serious when it was
also discovered that among these effects were
thousand shares iq the Rising Sun Mining
company, which day Or two after his dc
mise, and while people were still laughing at
his grotesque benefaction, suddenly sprang
into opulence and celebrity. Three millions
Of dollars was roughly estimated as the value
Of the estate thus ~satonly sacrificed. For
it is only fair to state, as a just tribute to tho